Speakers at this Event

Since January 2022, Wolfgang has been with the European Commission, DG ENVIRONMENT as policy officer in the field of Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, Circularity of critical Raw Materials, Extractive Waste Directive
Before this he was with the EU Commission, DG SANTE as policy officer in the fields of official controls of food and feed, feed legislation i.e. additives, dietetic feed, feed materials, emerging feed materials, compound feed including for pets, medicated feed, feed in organic farming, Antimicrobial Resistance, sustainability of livestock farming, including fighting food waste and insects as new protein source

Vivianne holds a degree in Food Science and Technology, starting her career within the product/ process development department at Unilever frozen food production and worked at several food related companies in the past. After joining SABIC in 2011 she has held various positions. From 2016 onwards, she is part of the market development and technical marketing team with a strong focus on flexible packaging. The last 2 years she expanded her role as Global Marketing Focal for the Packaging Industries.

  Dr. Dimitra  Kapsimali is Inks & Adhesives Development Manager with 15 years’ experience at A. Hatzopoulos S.A. industry.
She is Chemist and taking on challenging projects. She has acquired the highest level of science of chemistry acquiring M. Sc. and Ph. D in Analytical chemistry of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki-Greece.
Also, she has specialized in lamination process, acquiring a Certificate as Specialist in Lamination Techniques for Flexible Packaging from Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Germany.
She invests in management and communication skills acquiring M. Sc. in Management Business Administration (MBA) and M. Sc. in Human Recourses management (HR) from Hellenic Management Association.

 James Donaldson has a degree in Chemical Engineering and has spent 15 years in chemical recycling and 25 years in plastics recycling. He has designed and created numerous cutting edge recycling plants including the Biffa rHDPE plant, a recent rPP plant and the front end of a commissioning chemical recycling plant. As well as developing deinking technology he provides consultancy and still operates a large B 2B plastic sorting plant and trades plastics.

Alexana Bellegarde is a food engineer specialized in packaging, with expertise in eco-design and packaging optimization. After working in the agri-food and mass retail sectors, where she focused mainly on packaging improvement and quality aspects such as food contact, she joined the COTREP in October 2023 as Recyclability Project Manager. In this role, Alexana coordinates activities between COTREP's four member entities (Valorplast, Elipso, Citeo and SRP) and manages several projects. Her work aims to support industry actors in the transition towards more recyclable packaging aligned with circular economy objectives

Neil joined Zotefoams in September 2020 as Vice President of Strategy, EMEA, in October 2022 Neil was promoted to the role of President of MuCell Extrusion LLC, focusing on the development of ReZorce® mono-material barrier packaging and MuCell® microcellular foaming technologies. Neil’s previous roles include Business Unit Director for Jabil’s European food and beverage business and Commercial Director with responsibility for major clients and business development across EMEA, Asia and North America for Nampak. Prior to that, Neil held senior roles with Nestlé, Mondelez and Northern Foods. He was appointed a Council Member for the British Plastics Federation in 2017.

 Managing Director Certified Recycled Content CRC GmbH
Ansgar Schonlau is an internationally recognised packaging expert with more than 25 years of experience in the plastics industry. A graduate industrial engineer (FH) specialising in printing technology, he specialised in flexible packaging at an early stage and has held numerous management and sales positions. His professional focus has always been on restructuring and optimising companies to develop sustainable, cost-efficient products and processes. Since 2018, he has been the owner of the innovative packaging manufacturer Maag.
In 2022, he founded Certified Recycled Content CRC GmbH together with Dr Dirk Textor, Chairman of the Plastics Recycling Section of the bvse e.V. The aim of the start-up is to promote recyclates that replace virgin materials and thus make a significant contribution to the reduction of CO2.
As a staunch advocate of the circular economy, Schonlau is passionate about the sustainability and recyclability of flexible packaging. 

Rickard Jansson holds a Master’s degree in Biotechnology and has over 15 years of experience in material science, specializing in plastics recycling. Since joining Svensk Plaståtervinning (Swedish Plastic Recycling) in 2020 as a Development Engineer and Material Specialist, he has focused on enhancing recycling processes for plastic packaging. Rickard’s background includes work in the defense and aerospace industries, with expertise in analytical and organic chemistry and material characterization. His current efforts emphasize interdisciplinary collaboration to advance circular solutions within the plastic value chain.

Vincent is an experienced innovation leader in polymer science and packaging with about 15 years of experience leading global development projects from idea generation to product commercialization for renown companies such as Arkema, Dupont, GSK and now Haleon.
With extensive knowledge in various fields related to polymer recycling, product stability, barrier modelization, and interaction between packaging and product, he is now leading the technical packaging strategy for Haleon oral solid dose. His aim is to convert current packaging to recyclable solution by 2030, supporting sustainability effort of iconic brands such as Panadol and Voltaren. 

Nithya is a Scientist in the Circular Packaging research group at TNO – the Dutch innovation center for applied science research. She obtained her PhD in Aerospace Engineering from Arizona State University, focusing on the structural behaviour of lightweight polymer composites. She moved to the Netherlands to pursue a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship at TU Delft in 2020. Her expertise is on understanding chemical-mechanical coupling and structure-property relationships in polymers. She joined TNO in 2022 and works on modelling the sealing of polymers made of monomaterials and recyclates

- Studied International Business Administration at the University of Vienna with a focus on marketing and innovation, graduated in 2005.
- About 20 years of experience in marketing and communication across various organizations, ranging from standardization bodies to academic environments.
- Graduated in Packaging Technology with a focus on sustainability from FH Campus Wien, University of Applied Sciences in Vienna, in 2023.
- Started working with Constantia Flexibles in 2023 as Strategic Product Manager for Sustainability in Lidding and Technical Applications.
- Currently working as Innovation and Product Sustainability Manager with Constantia Flexibles International.

 . Andrea Venturelli, graduated from Politecnico di Milano as chemical engineer. He started working on packaging development in 2003 for an international contractor (Safosa, Italy) and built his experience throughout the entire supply chain managing innovation for 20 years across Intercos (third party worldwide innovator), LVMH’s Acqua di Parma and Dolce&Gabbana (globally recognized brands), Hic Beauty (niche and artistic fragrances) and MYC Beauty Innovation (packaging producer). Always cooperating with a multi-national team, each change of perspective gave him the opportunity to understand the world of cosmetics at 360° level, still having much to learn and experience as the recent global changes represent a stimulating challenge for a further growth. His approach on sustainability is scientifically driven and constitutes the base for turning new creative designs into innovative products that guarantee the best experience for the final user.

 25+ years of experience in plastics recycling. Chairman of the plastics recycling section of bvse e.V. (German Association for Secondary Raw Materials and Recycling). Strong international and national network.

 Studied Mechanical engineering
Was 10 years operations manager in the production industry of whiteboards and flipcharts

Switched to waste recycling in 2003 and was manager of departments for Minerals (Soil Cleaning) and Secondary Fuel (SRF for cement kilns)
In 2013 started plastic sorting activities for Attero in Wijster
Co-developed Attero’s plastic recycling activity
Currently active in business development of Attero’s plastic recycling activities and as sales engineer for recycled polymer

Lou Colombet is a materials engineer specialized in plastic packaging recycling. After working on packaging development for a brand owner, where she focused mainly on packaging eco-design and project management, she joined Valorplast in May 2022 as Materials Engineer. In this role, Lou is in a charge of flexible packaging waste sales while contributing to R&D projects on recycling solutions for these wastes. She is also involved in COTREP’s activity by representing Valorplast on flexible packaging topics.